U.S. Marine killed in Iraq after rocket attack

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U.S. Marine killed in Iraq after rocket attack

(March 20, 2016) — A U.S. Marine was killed in a rocket attack by ISIS on a base at Makhmur in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday.

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed the death in a statement. He said the Marine was “providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq.”

Cook added that several other Marines were wounded, though he did not provide details on their conditions. He said the identity of the slain Marine will be released after the family is notified.

The base is where the U.S. has been conducting advise-and-assist activities as part of the coalition effort against ISIS, a U.S. official told CNN.

Iraqi General Sirwan Barzani told CNN that the attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. local time.

Barzani added that his men in Makhmour are receiving rocket fire daily and some attacks have claimed Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The last U.S. service member to be killed in Iraq as a result of hostile enemy action was Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, of Roland, Oklahoma, who died in October during a rescue mission in northern Iraq. Wheeler was the first American to die in combat in Iraq since November 2011.